He meets him. "Hello. I was discussing with your emperor how to share our resources, and it became apparent I'll be running into your son a fair bit, and last time we met I think I hurt him. I'd - like to have enough context to avoid doing that."

"I'm happy to help," says Corino. "What happened between you?"

"The Yeerks in my world had an agreement with me that they'd take only consenting hosts, for fixed durations of time, and they'd teach us the technology of their lost homeworld. That works better in our world than yours because everyone has osanwë and a non-consenting host could easily make themself known. There were also a lot of Yeerk children. The, ah, explosion killed many of them, and Taliar on arriving killed all the rest. He then resurrected me, and was - concerned for me - and I told him that however strategically defensible the genocide I had friends to grieve and hoped he'd go away."

"He was upset," says Corino. "But he doesn't blame you, if you were worried about that. What kind of context are you looking for?"

"I don't think I know what I'm looking for. My approval was important to him; why? Why was he upset?"

"I don't think it's your approval he was looking for, exactly," says Corino. "You're more or less the same person as his husband. He wants you to be happy. He regrets bringing you grief. Separately, he also regrets killing the Yeerks and especially their children. He grieves any time he finds himself in a situation where not everyone can come out alive and happy and safe; he grieves more when he has to harm someone to protect someone else. And then he does his best to make sure that next time he'll do better and no one will need to get hurt at all."

"And how did the two of them end up married?"

"They met when Taliar was inexplicably transported from Nuime to my son-in-law's Arda. They were having a problem with an evil god. Taliar offered to help. Then he fell in love. I'm missing some of the details, but they had been together for some time when Taliar found out that Maitimo's other boyfriend was being kept against his will. He didn't take it well. And... Do you know what happens when someone touches a soulbearer's soul?"

"No."

"It's considered the worst imaginable form of torture. People who have had it happen to them usually can't even describe the experience afterward, but they all tend to agree that they'd rather die than experience it again. While it's happening it's completely incapacitating; the soulbearer can't move or think or use their magic at all."

He smiles slightly.

"I don't know exactly what the shape of the dilemma was, although I could guess. I do know that Taliar's solution was to take off his soul-necklace and throw it at him."

His guesses are hard to put into words, so he sends them as thoughts. He's got it about right; he knows his son very well.

"After that, well, Taliar hasn't told me how they got to where they were when I first saw them together—" he sends the memory "—but I know that it involved a lot of that same willingness to make himself overwhelmingly vulnerable, and I know that Taliar doesn't regret any of it in the slightest. He's made that very clear."

"And so he was hoping I was - what, on the market -"

"Hmm?"

"He was thinking about how he could make me happy if I wanted one which I wouldn't - he was upset -"

"Ah. My son and his husband are... very, very good for each other. I don't think it would be a stretch to say they are each the best thing in the other's life. And I expect that when Taliar saw you, he wanted to give you a chance at that same happiness, and he regretted making such an awful first impression because it meant that you'd have every reason to reject the gift."

"All right. Thank you. I'm - glad that they're happy."

"So am I," he says. "And I'm glad I could help you understand my son a little better. It's funny how you can have someone's whole mind to look at and still not be able to get a clear picture, isn't it?"

"I'm also not used to people letting me read their minds. Is that conventional here?"

"No, it's just Taliar being Taliar."

"I see. Thank you. That's all I wanted to ask about."

He nods. "You're welcome. Anytime."

"What did your son end up doing about Maitimo's boyfriend?"

"After the war, Maitimo had Taliar erase Findekano's oaths, resurrect his family and a hundred or so of their friends and associates, and send them all to live in Nuime. They're settling in nicely; I'm working as their liaison because I'm two thousand years old and therefore just about patient enough to avoid rushing them."

"I see."

"It's enjoyable work."

Nod. "Thank you."